World News – AU – The JobKeeper subsidy is dropping today before disappearing entirely in March

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Hundreds of thousands of Australians face a wage cut of up to $ 100 a week as of today as the JobKeeper wage subsidy is paid back

The payment was set at the start of the pandemic to encourage affected companies to continue to employ staff However, it is entering the final phase today, ahead of the planned conclusion at the end of March

From the 4th As of January 1st, Eligible Companies will receive $ 500 per week for each employee who works 20 hours or more per week versus $ 600. Other employees will be paid $ 325 per week compared to $ 375

However, South Australian hotel worker Jaymee Langrehr noted earlier in the year at her restaurant that if the payment was cut from $ 750 to $ 600 per week, the shifts of workers would also be cut

“All of a sudden, after 25 to 30 hours, I was down to 10 to 15,” she said

“If things were busy and we had to lag behind to get clean, we’d get into trouble because we went beyond what JobKeeper paid us to do and they had to pay us out of pocket””

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government’s plan for economic recovery included a number of stimulus measures, including personal income tax cuts and the JobMaker grant for companies hiring young workers

“With our economic recovery, Australians have reason for optimism and hope as we emerge from the COVID-19 recession,” he said

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said while JobKeeper was phased out at some point, doing so now would hurt the economy while companies are still grappling with coronavirus restrictions

“Withdrawal of support, if we are still very much concerned with the economic impact of this crisis, is premature,” he said

Ms. Langrehr predicts that after JobKeeper ends, the bans will continue – even if they are intermittent – many will have problems and “things get really messy in hospitality”

“If you live from paycheck to paycheck week after week and don’t have the backup savings, once you’ve been out of work for a week, things get really difficult,” she said,

Last week, the Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, said that in the new year it would be announced what would happen to the coronavirus payments

However, JobKeeper’s expansion has not yet been openly supported, although the cost of the program is expected to be around $ 10 billion below estimates

“The Morrison government has always maintained that JobKeeper is a temporary program aimed at building economic confidence and momentum”

“We see that through the 734000 jobs created in the last six months fewer companies and their employees require JobKeeper and other temporary economic support “

The government expects unemployment to peak at 75 percent in the first three months of 2021 It used to expect it to reach 8 percent

The Labor Party has criticized the government for phasing out JobKeeper and the coronavirus addition to JobSeeker despite ongoing lockdowns

The leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, was also against lowering the JobKeeper and JobSeeker rates in 2021

“The pandemic is not over yet and people need support while they stay home and follow health advice,” he said

“While health officials urge people in Sydney and Melbourne to minimize travel, the federal government is urging them to take to the streets and find work”

Innes Willox, managing director of the Ai Group, said JobKeeper must come to an end at some point, but there is a strong case for targeted support for some companies

“We just can’t afford to keep JobKeeper up and running in its current form indefinitely, but we need to find ways to help significant parts of the economy with the next difficult phase, perhaps with more targeted support,” said he

The government estimated that 16 million Australians were subsidized by JobKeeper in December, up from 36 million earlier in 2020

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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time, 10 hours before GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)

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